The Donkey

What's that? Doesn't look much like a donkey, you say? Well, that in fact is what this contraption is called, and it becomes one of my favourite pieces of equipment on our property during the cooler months.

The Donkey is basically an old fashioned water heater. It's a 44 gallon drum that holds water and we light a fire under it to heat the water. However, it is terribly important in winter time to be prepared: lighting the fire at 4pm is a great idea. When you come inside just before dark, cold, tired and disgustingly dirty and stinky from working in the cattle yards all day, and someone has not lit the fire for a nice warm shower, well, things are likely to get nasty. Mind you, it only takes about 1/2 an hour to get warm water, but you want it good and hot with a nicely stoked fire if you've got a few bodies to process!

You'll have to look closely, but there is actually a fire lit under the donkey - quite a pathetic and inept little fire I have to say. Lighting roaring fires isn't one of my better skills, and achieving one usually involves a good deal of newspaper, and then a nice dash of petrol or some other incendary fluid to help things along! Mind you, one does get better the more often it has to be done, and careful selection of the timber to be burned also helps.

Oh, I am so thankful for my electric hot water sytem, and electricity in general, when I get home. Its not exactly "weekend cottage" living, although it is quiet. Gives everyone quite a fright if the phone actually rings!

One more photo, seeing as I am on the subject of our property: here's an old one of The Hut, from when we bought the property back in 2006. Its quite flash as shed living goes: it has a cement floor and flushing toilet. Biggest problem - the verandahs aren't cemented, and the amount of sand that gets trekked in is unbelievable (I put my shoes on after a shower, no matter how often the floor gets swept during the day, there's still grit on the floor).

One day, we might get the verandah floors both back and front cemented (all of that junk on the verandah? its not there any more. Though occassionally, the motorbike gets parked up there, but mostly, it gets to be a verandah, with some rickety fold up chairs in pride of place)...and then, but shh, don't tell my husband, I might find a basic, comfy (and inexpensive!) outdoor dining setting to go there. Just so I can pretend it's a "weekend cottage in the mountains". But, funnily enough, new fences seem to have a higher priority than verandah flooring...

There hasn't been much crafty happenings around here lately, just more of the day to day stuff...hope this isn't boring you, cos there's likely to be more on the same topic in the near future. We've got to muster and brand a wedge of calves really soon, so I am getting myself mentally prepared for that, and the preparation of baking some large cakes and the like to feed anyone that turns up... (hopefully a few, I don't want to have to do all of the work myself!)

But until then, I'm off to a Tupperware party tomorrow to play ladies..the kids are most excited, they only heard the "party" bit... hee hee.